Genesis 32–33

CHAPTER 32

Jacob’s Fear of Esau

¹Now Jacob went on his way, ^aand the angels of God met him.

²Then Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s ¹camp.” So he named that place ^2aMahanaim.

³Then Jacob ^asent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of ^bSeir, the ¹country of ^cEdom.

⁴He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord, to Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban and have been ^adelayed until now;

^5aAnd I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female slaves; and I have sent to tell my lord, ^bthat I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ”

⁶Then the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother, to Esau, and furthermore ^ahe is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.”

⁷Then Jacob was ^agreatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two camps.

⁸And he said, “If Esau comes to the one camp and strikes it, then the camp which remains will escape.”

⁹And Jacob said, “O ^aGod of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Yahweh, who said to me, ‘^bReturn to your land and to your kin, and I will ¹prosper you,’

¹⁰¹I am unworthy ^aof all the lovingkindness and of all the truth which You have shown to Your slave; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

¹¹“^aDeliver me, I pray, ^bfrom the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and strike me down with the ^cmothers and the children.

¹²“For You said, ‘^aI will surely ¹prosper you and ^bmake your seed as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’”

¹³So he spent the night there. Then he took from what ¹he had with him a ^apresent for his brother Esau:

¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

¹⁵thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

¹⁶And he gave them into the hand of his servants, every flock by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me and put a space between flocks.”

¹⁷And he commanded the first one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’

¹⁸then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord, to Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’”

¹⁹Then he commanded also the second and the third and all those who followed the flocks, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him;

²⁰and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease his face with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will lift up my face.”

²¹So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp.

²²And he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two servant-women and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the ^aJabbok.

²³And he took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had.

Jacob Wrestles with God

²⁴Then Jacob was left alone, and a man ^awrestled with him until the ¹breaking of dawn.

²⁵And he saw that he had not prevailed against him, so he touched the socket of his thigh; and so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

²⁶Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is ¹breaking.” But he said, “^aI will not let you go unless you bless me.”

²⁷So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”

^28aThen He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but ¹Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.”

²⁹Then ^aJacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.

³⁰So Jacob named the place ¹Peniel, for he said, “^aI have seen God face to face, yet my ²life has been delivered.”

³¹And the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over ^aPenuel, and he was limping on his thigh.

³²Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

CHAPTER 33

Jacob Meets Esau

¹Then Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, ^aEsau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children ¹among Leah and Rachel and the two servant-women.

²And he put the servant-women and their children first, and Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph after them.

³But he himself passed on ahead of them and ^abowed down to the ground seven times, until he ^bcame near to his brother.

⁴Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him and ^afell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.

⁵And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “¹Who are these with you?” And he said, “^aThe children whom God has graciously given your servant.”

⁶Then the servant-women came near ¹with their children, and they bowed down.

⁷Leah likewise came near with her children, and they bowed down; and afterward Joseph came near with Rachel, and they bowed down.

⁸And he said, “What do you mean by ^aall ¹these camps which I have met?” And he said, “^bTo find favor in the sight of my lord.”

⁹But Esau said, “^aI have plenty, my brother; let what you have be your own.”

¹⁰And Jacob said, “No, please, if now I have found favor in your sight, then take my present from my hand, ¹for I see your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.

¹¹“Please take my ^ablessing which has been brought to you, ^bbecause God has dealt graciously with me and because I have ¹everything.” Thus he urged him, and he took it.

¹²Then ¹Esau said, “Let us take our journey and go, and I will go before you.”

¹³But he said to him, “My lord knows that the children are weak and that the flocks and herds which are nursing are ¹a care to me. And if they are driven hard one day, all the flocks will die.

¹⁴“Please let my lord pass on before his servant, and I will lead on slowly, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come to my lord at ^aSeir.”

¹⁵Then Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “Why do this? ^aLet me find favor in the sight of my lord.”

¹⁶So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

¹⁷But Jacob journeyed to ^1aSuccoth and built for himself a house and made booths for his livestock; therefore the place is named Succoth.

Jacob Camps in Shechem

¹⁸Now Jacob came safely to the city of ^aShechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from ^bPaddan-aram, and he camped before the city.

^19aThen he bought a portion of a field where he had pitched his tent from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for one hundred ¹qesitah.

²⁰Then he set up there an altar and called it ¹El-Elohe-Israel.